Bhubaneswar: The Odisha chapter of the Enhancing Climate Resilience of India’s Coastal Communities (ECRICC) Project has secured first prize in the ‘government sector’ at the Seafood Expo Bharat 2025 (SEB-25), held from July 1 to 3 at the Chennai Trade Centre. The award highlights Odisha’s pioneering efforts in promoting climate-resilient aquaculture and inclusive, community-led development along its coastal regions, a release said.
Organised by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, SEB-25 is one of India’s premier platforms for stakeholders across the fisheries and aquaculture value chain. This year’s edition attracted over 3,000 delegates, both domestic and international. The ECRICC Project—supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and UNDP, and implemented nationally by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)—focuses on ecosystem-based adaptation and sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities. In Odisha, it is implemented by the Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Government of Odisha.
Odisha’s stall became a major attraction at SEB-25, featuring live demonstrations of pond-based mud crab farming, multimedia exhibits, and real-life transformation stories from local beneficiaries, especially women and marginalised groups. The initiative is playing a key role in advancing scientific mud crab farming, ornamental fisheries, and sustainable aquaculture, while empowering climate champions and local institutions. “It was an excellent opportunity for our last-mile cadre to represent the state on a national platform,” said one of the women climate champions who spoke on stage.
A 14-member delegation from Odisha, comprising SPMU and DPMU officials, community leaders, and beneficiary crab farmers, attended the expo. Their participation facilitated knowledge exchange, technical collaboration, and opportunities to scale community-based aquaculture models, the release said. Secretary of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), the Counsellor of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from the Embassy of Spain (New Delhi), and the CEO of the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad, were among those who visited the stall. The recognition at SEB-25 underscores Odisha’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its long-term vision of building a Vikshit Odisha by 2036, aligned with the Prime Minister’s mission of a Vikshit Bharat by 2047, the release added.
